Doctor Who: Time Crash

Last night on BBC One in the UK, the Corporation's annual charity telethon, 'Children in Need' raised £19million for underpriviledged kids around the country.

However, the highlight of the evening was a short Doctor Who segment, filmed specially for the telethon (as has become a tradition every year at this time), which bridged the final episode of season four three, 'Last of the Time Lords' and the forthcoming Christmas Special, 'Voyage of the Damned'.

And it was a fantastic eight-minute segment of television, written by Steven Moffat, who also scripted the brilliant 'Blink' in season three, and featured none other than Peter Davidson, the fifth Doctor, playing the earlier version of himself alongside his modern-day counterpart, David Tennant.

Moffat has a knack for clever paradox-style stories, and managed to capture a fantastic little snippet of emotion, harking back to the early days of Doctor Who, when I was an ardent young viewer myself.

I have to admit, I had a tear in my eye when Tennant told his counterpart -- before he sent him back to his own time: -- "You were my Doctor." I couldn't have put it better myself.

While Davison wasn't my Doctor (Tom Baker was), he was certainly one of the best -- and he demonstrated it here one more time (if you'll pardon the pun).

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ALL of the previous Doctors could have known about LINDA, so long as they "landed" on Earth during the time that the group was in existence. And LINDA would have known about them, following their exploits. Rather like Clyde in "Rose" - although he seemed to be focused only on the exploits of Number Nine.

Joe Siegler, the fifth Doctor could easily know about LINDA. He is a time traveler. He could have easily been involved in something around the time of LINDA being in existence. Besides, who says LINDA stopped being a group after "Love and Monsters"?

"like the bit about the Doctor telling Shakespeare he can snog him later if he wants..."

Right, but anyone familiar with Shakespeare's sonnets knows that the Bard was well aware of a man's love for his fellow man-- and his plays were filled with male actors kissing other male actors. So referencing it is just a nod to historical accuracy.

Also "Beard" can be used to refer to anyone posing as a date in order to protect some involved party from scandal-- I first heard the term used in the Woody Allen film "Broadway Danny Rose"-- where the context was heterosexual: Allen's character poses as the date of his client's mistress where his client's family will be present. Obviously, in the days of rampant homophobia, homosexuals may have had a greater need beards more than heterosexuals-- but it's not an exclusively gay practice.

I was so bummed when I couldn't get it from the U.K. site, but a day later there were over 10 postings on youtube and I got to see it. I loved Peter Davison as part of the Adric, Tegan and Nyssa years. It was a great couple of minutes going back in time with the current Time Lord.

I'm more familiar with Moffat's script writing on the original Coupling series from the UK.

While not a follower of Dr. Who, two things are evident to me from this piece that were always found in the comedy of Coupling. First of all, Moffat is a master of manipulating and twisting plot in surprising and deeply satisfying ways. Secondly, after years of hearing Coupling's theories on the melty man, nudity projection and the sock gap, it came as no surprise to me that he should move on to writing for Dr. Who. Moffat definitely loves his science fiction.

I said "were" to refer to the great number of gay people associated with the classic episode who have passed away. "Were" in the sense not that they are no longer gay, but that they are no longer alive...Nathan-Turner is deceased, as is his longtime partner Gary Downie who also worked on the classic series, as well as a number of other assistants and directors who "were" gay, such as Peter Grimwade.

John Nathan Turner didn't create Doctor Who, he simply produced the last 8 or 9 years of the original 26 year run of the show (which was about 6 years too long - most producers on the show worked on it for about 3 or 4 years). The original producer was Verity Lambert (a woman) who left the show during the third season. The actual concept was developed by the then head of BBC Drama, Sydney Newman.